Algeria in the grip of Turkish temptation

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It is a little music which rises, an air of the time where the sweet calls of religion, economy and strategy mingle against the backdrop of a shared Ottoman past. A kind of “Turkish dream »Is making its way among Algerians, uninhibited if not unanimous. From imported leather goods “made in Turkey” to the restoration of the Bey’s palace and the Hassan Pasha mosque in Oran, including the success of television series audiences – in particular Ask-i Memnu (“Forbidden Love”) – and the boom in “halal” tourism in the Marmara Sea (south of Istanbul), Algeria is wracked by Turkish temptation.

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The Algerian president himself, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, goes there with his geopolitical praise, sweeping aside any objections. Asked about “The Turkish offensive in the Maghreb” by the weekly Point on the eve of the legislative elections of June 12, he replied: ” It doesn’t bother us. “The dispute between Turkey and some Arab countries is mainly linked to the issue of the Muslim Brotherhood, he added. Algeria has excellent relations with the Turks. “

Mr. Tebboune is even less ” disturbs ”Through the links between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the regional galaxy of the Muslim Brotherhood that the Algerian political field must also make room for this Islamo-conservative current.

Turkish influence continues to grow

The legislative elections – massively boycotted – have shown this with the emergence of the Movement of the Society for Peace (MSP, Islamist), laudator of the model embodied by Erdogan, as the second party represented in the Assembly. If the MSP finally gave up participating in a government coalition, believing that there would not have the expected room for maneuver, other Islamist formations – more minor – should join them.

Addressing all those who could be moved by their influence, President Tebboune had sought to clear the ground in his interview with Point : ” Has political Islam hindered the development of countries like Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt? This political Islam does not bother me because it is not above the laws of the Republic. ” The invocation of the Turkish reference has here all its importance.

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